


white nights

by hyerewolf



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghost Hunters, F/F, Ghosts, Magic, Midnight Sun, Mild Blood, Minor Original Character(s), Minor Violence, Other Warnings in the Notes, Paganism, Religious Cults, Zombies, but the romance is kinda here don't worry, we're here for the adventure not the romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-22 07:56:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20870819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyerewolf/pseuds/hyerewolf
Summary: A paranormal-hunting youtuber trio gets an invitation to stay in a remote village north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden to investigate an obscure case of hauntings. During their stay there, bizarre secrets begin to come into the light of the midnight sun.Because of course they do.





	white nights

**Author's Note:**

> take the plot of "scooby-doo on zombie island", modify it slightly and put it in the setting of "midsommar", add a sprinkle of "ghost hunters" just for taste. serve chilled.
> 
> aside from things mentioned in the tags, additional trigger warnings for cult-adjacenet brainwashing and gaslighting, as well as mentions of human sacrifice in later chapters. proceed with caution if you find any of those topics disturbing.
> 
> also please have the work skin turned on!

EXT. A BUSY STREET, NEW ORLEANS - NOON

Shot from a hand-held camera. YERIM stands in front of the St. Roch Cemetery's gate, fakes wiping away a tear.

JUNGEUN:  
(off camera)  
Hurry up, Yerim, or we're gonna miss the bus to the airport!

YERIM:  
Coming!

The frame shakes as Yerim turns the camera around in her hand, now filming her friends, and runs over to them. JINSOUL and JUNGEUN look like tired camels, while YEOJIN, who's forearm is covered in bandaids, is bouncing on the balls of her feet, more excited about getting somewhere with a Wi-Fi than about a bus ride. All of the girls have large backpacks on. There are several bags strewn around them, most of them looking like camera and filming equipment cases.

YERIM:  
(off camera)  
We're leaving right now, but we've filmed heaps of great material for our videos here.

JUNGEUN:

Even with Yeojin being a pain in the ass.

YEOJIN:  
(stops bouncing, pouts)  
Hey!

YERIM:  
(off camera)  
If it wasn't for her, we would've never gotten a permission to film on that cemetery.

YEOJIN:  
(turns to Yerim with a smile as sweet as liquorice, proud of herself)  
Thank you.

Jungeun huffs. They collect their baggage and get on the bus that has just arrived at the stop. The frame shakes once more; Yerim turns the camera again so now it's facing her.

YERIM:  
Good bye, New Orleans! We'll see you guys later back home in Seoul.

She covers the lens with her free hand.

CUT TO:

INT. OEC STUDIO ROOM - AFTERNOON

Yerim smiles to the camera, sitting in front of a dark navy background with the white Odd Eye Circle logo on it. The desk she's sitting by is littered with papers full of unintelligible handwriting.

YERIM:  
It's been almost a year since our New Orleans adventure, can you believe? Time flies like crazy, huh?

She sighs, gaze dreamy. Shakes her head while shuffling some of the papers around. She looks back into the camera after a second.

YERIM:  
As those of you who follow us on Twitter and Instagram - links in the description below - might have guessed by the amount of suitcase pics Jinsoul has been posting recently, we're going on yet another trip _really_ soon! That means we'll have a short upload hiatus, but stay tuned and don't forget to subscribe and turn the notifications on so you're the first to know when we're back. Odd Eye Circle Summer Special is a tradition at this point and it's definitely happening this year as well, creepier and better than ever!

She winks, smiling mysteriously.

YERIM:  
See you soon and stay odd!

CUT TO BLACK.

* * *

Jungeun looked at the clock hanging on the train station's wall. Its hands have barely moved since she's glared at it just a few seconds ago, and she grumbled something barely audible under her breath.

"What was that?" asked Jinsoul, her eyes still glued to the screen of her phone, her thumbs tapping it frantically as she made her way through another stage in Cookie Run.

"She should be there already," said Jungeun absentmindedly, now looking at her wrist watch, as if that would make the time run faster. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked there as well, only to get the same results.

"In five minutes," chimed in Yerim, her eyes on her phone as well, some blog post about the latest unexplainable paranormal activity in the neighbourhood open in her browser tab. As full of half-baked crap as it was, it provided at least some entertainment. "She should be here in five minutes and you're stressed out without a reason."

"I'm not stressed out," Jungeun grumbled, shoving her hands into the pockets of her pants. "I just can't believe we're being forced to take her with us _again_. Second year in a row!"

"But last year was fun!" Yerim protested, a pout already forming on her lips.

"Last year we were in a more... controlled environment. This year-"

"This year we're going to have fun as well, no matter what" Jinsoul shrugged. She sighed, watching as her Salt Cookie fell through the gap in the gangplank and a "game over" flashed on the screen. She tapped the green "rescue cookie" button with a frown. "And it's not like you have to pay for her tickets or anything, your aunt and uncle cover that for her. Besides, everyone has already been informed that four people will arrive, so don't even think about ditching her on any of the airports."

Before Jungeun could think of a response to this absolutely gratuitous accusation, a calm, almost robotic voice of the train station employee annonunced the arrival of the train they have been waiting for. Jungeun basically jumped out of her seat as if it has caught on fire, followed by a grinning, bouncing Yerim only a milisecond after. All of them - even Jinsoul, who forgot about her Salt Cookie in less than a blink of an eye - ran out onto the platform.

First passengers have already started to pour out of the cars, and soon enough the platform was crowded, full of businesspeople in pinstripe suits rushing to catch a cab, dead-eyed, tired students, and foreign tourists with suitcases bigger than themselves.

Yeojin jumped out onto the platform just as Odd Eye Circle managed to elbowed their way through the crowd to her car. She got almost crushed by her own bright orange suitcase, but Jinsoul managed to catch it before any tragedy could occur. After all, it would be a shame, if Yeojin was to suffer any kind of damage before they even left the country - that was against the tradition they set last year.

"Oh my God, it's you guys!" Yeojin gasped, eyes wide and sparkling. She gave them all quick hugs - in case of Jungeun it was more like a blink-and-you-miss-it pat on the back, while the one with Yerim was only a little tighter than her embrace with Jinsoul. "Frog Eye Circle is back together, baby!" The youngest girl exclaimed while fist pumping and twirling around. "So, where are we going this time?"

"Sweden," said Jinsoul, trying to haul Yeojin's ridiculous suitcase down the stairs as they headed out of the station to get on a bus. "Hell, it weights like a milion tons, what did you even pack in here? A baby elephant?"

Yeojin shrugged. "Only the most important things I can't live without. Hey, watch it! I can't afford a new MIDI board any time soon!" she shouted as Jinsoul barely managed to catch the suitcase before it tumbled down, torwards hard concrete floor and the certain doom.

"Why the _fuck_ did you take your MIDI board with you?" asked Jungeun, not believing her ears. "I told you to pack the essentials only..."

"Fun." The youngest of the girls shrugged with a goofy grin adorning her lips, which only made Jungeun hide her face in her hands. Not that Yeojin paid any attention to that. "But why Sweden? What is even fun in Sweden besides IKEA and, like, moose?"

"Viking ghosts," said Yerim, hooking her arm with Yeojin's. "Or at least we think they were vikings. Maybe not. The details aren't clear, but that only makes it more interesting."

Yeojin's eyes sparkled. "Well, Sweden suddenly got interesting as heck."

* * *

INT. A RENTED CAR DRIVING NORTH ON A REMOTE SWEDISH ROAD - LATE EVENING

Yeojin is looking out the window, watching the scenery move by, utterly uninterested. Despite the late hour, the sun is still above the horizon, making everything look almost unnaturally gray and dull.

YEOJIN:  
_Ugh_, Sweden is _so boring_.

YERIM:  
(off camera)  
It's only our second day here.

Yeojin groans, not convinced. She's clearly grumpy from all the travelling they had to do in the past twenty four hours.

YERIM:  
(off camera)  
Come on, Yeojinnie. Say hi and tell everyone who you are!

Yeojin scoffs and rolls her eyes.

YEOJIN:  
They should know! And if they don't, then they've been living under a rock!

Yerim giggles and Yeojin smiles at that, though she still tries to appear cool and indifferent, with little success. Eventually, she sighs and turns to the camera.

YEOJIN:  
Hi, I'm Yeojin, but you probably know me as Lil Yeo on Soundcloud where I post my music or FroggyJin on YouTube where I vlog, mostly about making sick beats and my small snail farm.

YERIM:  
(off camera)  
And why are you here with us?

YEOJIN:  
Because that big grump over there is my dearest cousin Jungie, with whom I'm being forced to spend my summer vacation. Again.

She kicks the seat across her two times before Jungeun - with a sleep mask on her forehead - turns around, very clearly annoyed.

JUNGEUN:  
Stop that, you gremlin.

Yeojin cackles and kicks the seat again, harder this time. Jungeun growls; she looks like she's about to start fuming any second now.

JUNGEUN:  
I said _stop_!

She tries reaching back to grab Yeojin, but the smaller girl is faster and manages to get out of her grasp without any trouble.

Jungeun twists in her seat to get more range, accidentally kicking the shift stick and Jinsoul's arm. The other girl gasps loudly as she tries to prevent the car from getting off the road.

JINSOUL:  
_Watch it, Eun!_

Jungeun, still wiggling, nudges the volume knob of the radio. The song - Östen Warnerbring's En Sommardröm - blasts loudly, making the girls wince.

YERIM:  
(off camera, barely audible through the music, Yeojin's squeals and Jungeun's threats)  
What a lovely trip we're having here!

CUT TO BLACK.

* * *

The road got progressively less asphalted the closer they got to their destination, marked by a classy red pin on the GPS screen. Yeojin was absolutely sure that Jinsoul deliberately decided to get them lost and didn't hesitate to voice her concerns out loud.

"Did not!" Jinsoul wailed, rolling her eyes. "I'm following the GPS."

Yeojin blew a raspberry. "I don't trust it. It's probably broken, just like every clock-thing we have. They say it's almost 10PM, but the sun is still up."

"That's because of the midnight sun," said Yerim, tapping on her phone "when the sun doesn't set for two months. The June solstice is in two days, so the sun is going all out right now."

"Doesn't that happen only near the poles or something?" The youngest girl put her head against the window.

"We passed the arctic circle a while ago," chimed in Jinsoul. She had her eyes glued to the dusty country road ahead, swerving gently to avoid the biggest holes.

"What, when?!"

"When you were sleeping, I think."

"Wh_aaa_t?! What else did I sleep through?" whined Yeojin, dragging her hands down her face.

"Your growth sprout," said Jungeun. The youngest girl kicked the back of her seat, but before they could start their fight all over again, Yerim leaned into the gap between the front seats, right on the line of fire, and pointed her finger at something ahead of them, slightly to the side of the road. She tapped Jinsoul's shoulder excitedly.

"Look! Someone, out there! They're waving at us!"

"Took you long enough," said the stranger with a smile when they've finally pulled over and got out of the car. Yeojin eyed him curiously as he approached them, and decided he couldn't have been much older than Jungeun or Jinsoul, but his bright face paired with clothes - a plain white shirt and pants, clearly hand weaved and hand sewn - made him appear kind of ageless. Like a character from an old painting or a folk tale.

"It isn't easy to find a way up here," said Jinsoul with a chuckle, walking to the back of their rented car to open the trunk.

"Well, that's kind of the whole point." The guy laughed. "My name is Dag, and my father sent me to lead you to our village."

Yeojin couldn't help but groan. "So it isn't _here_?"

"No, it's beyond those woods." He made a vague gesture in the general direction of the trees not so far behind him. "Oh, no, no, don't take all your stuff with you now," he said, seeing that Odd Eye Circle started taking out their equipment cases, "just take the most important things, and we'll come back for the rest of those tomorrow morning. It's already late, and we have quite a way to go."

Another of Yeojin's groans got silenced by Yerim's exicted "let's go then!" as all of them - Dag leading the way - entered a narrow path running between the trees, barely visible through the dense undergrowth.

* * *

Yeojin could easily name at least fifty better things to do on a Tuesday night than walking through an almost virginal forest in northern Sweden with a heavy backpack on her back, while completely losing the sense of time because the sun stubbornly refused to go down. She decided to keep her eyes on the ground, so the only thing in her field of view was the path directly ahead of her and the backs of Yerim's pristine white sneakers.

It worked well enough for the most part of the walk - save for the one instance when they had to cross a makeshift bridge over a muddy bluff, which completely ruined her immersion - so she didn't even notice when they arrived under a large wooden arch serving as a gateway to the village and everyone ahead of her stopped, causing her to bump face first right into Yerim's backpack with a loud "ouchmf".

"Oh gosh, you okay, Yeojin?" Genuine concern in Yerim's voice would probably make her heart melt, but Yeojin's attention was grabbed by the greeting commitee standing right in front of them.

A group of almost twenty people of all ages, all dressed in white clothes made from the same hand weaved fabric as Dag's clothes, made a rough semicircle with an older man in the center. Some of them were holding big flower crowns, others - large wooden plates full of what looked like pastries and bread, as well as jugs.

"Welcome!" said the man in the middle, smiling brightly and stretching his arms as if he wanted to hug them all, yet he stood firmly in place, and none of the Frog Eye Circle made a step in his direction. "We've been waiting for you!"

"Yeah, we can tell," murmured Yeojin, earning a nudge and a pointed stare from Jungeun.

"Thank you for inviting us," said Jinsoul, smiling almost as brightly as Yerim, who was completely enamoured with a heavy crown of purple meaedow flowers put on her head by one of the girls in white dresses. Another girl, definitely younger than Yeojin, ran over and handed all of them wooden cups with some strange, herbal liquid. Yeojin discreetly made a face of disgust. Yerim giggled at her.

"We're endlessly happy that you accepted our invitation," the man clapped to emphasise his words. "My name is Orvar and I'm the current leader of our community. Please, try to feel at home here."

Yeojin raised her hand. "What's the password to your Wi-Fi?"

"We don't have any."

"Jungeun, I want to go back home."

Orvar laughed, and a few members of his circle giggled as well. "We live with as little technology as possible here. Trust me, child, life suddenly become much richer when you put human creations aside. Who knows, maybe you'll like it after a few days."

Yeojin was more than ready to vocalize her doubts, but apparentely that was enough of banter for the night, because Orvar told Dag to lead them to the building he called "the youth home", and the five of them headed torwards one of the three wooden houses on the side of the village. It was larger than one would expect, and had only one room inside, with several ladders leading to a second storey, which looked more like a balcony. There were simple single beds put alongside the white walls, each of them with a wooden frame and a mattress, almost all occupied by children and teens. It was hard to fight off a thought of standing in a barn mixed with a country church.

"Your beds are the ones here," Dag pointed at the ones furthest on the left, close to the window. "Make yourself comfortable, and have a peaceful night."

With that, he walked out, leaving the four girls alone.


End file.
